Re: Removing the manpage requirement for GUI programs?
Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> writes:
> Letting alone policy issues: what do you propose, *concretely* to
> improve the situation?
The situation is as it is: many commands lack proper manual pages. I
don't propose to change the existing approach for dealing with this:
file bug reports, work with upstream to have properly maintained
manpages, close the bug reports as fixed when that happens.
> Currently when you use “man foo” on a GUI program, you have 50%
> chances to see an incorrect documentation. And so far nobody seems
> interested in writing this documentation, let alone maintaining it.
This is the case for many commands, regardless of UI. What I'm arguing
against is a proposed exemption for GUI programs: they need manual pages
just like any other command, for all the diverse reasons cited in this
thread.
> So far the only thing that I can conclude from this “discussion” (just
> a gathering of rants, actually) is that we should just remove manual
> pages that are not maintained upstream and tag all related bugs
> wontfix.
I encourage the removal of specific worse-than-useless manpages.
The bug remains a bug, and I don't think closing the report is
appropriate in the absence of proper manpages. In many existing cases,
Debian maintainers take on that burden of maintaining proper manpages.
That burden ideally rests on upstream's shoulders, but if they're
unwilling, that doesn't resolve the bug.
--
\ “If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, |
`\ because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to |
_o__) catch you because, hey, free dummy.” —Jack Handey |
Ben Finney
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